Well it has been 13 months since l started the telekit build and it has finally come to a end.
I ordered the Telekit in Jan 14 from Astrosystems. It arrived in late May 14. As luck would have it, my first born was due early May so the Telekit was put on the backburner whilst l figured out what l was doing with a baby.
It was a slow process building the Telekit. I work away so the time i had was already consumed with the little one and also trying to maintain some kind of order through the house and garden. We moved house too which made life a bit harder. How much crap a 9 month old has is beyond me.
The build manual was posted to me about 2 weeks after l ordered the kit. This allowed me to get familiar with the whole process. I had never really done much with woodwork ever, but the manual is very precise, it is hard to make mistakes.
Randy Cunningham from Astrosystems was very helpfull during the build process. I ordered a few bits and peices after the Telekit arrived and they got lost in the mail. Randy did not hesitate to replace and resend them. That is great customer service. I cant speak highly of the company. It has been a easy flow from start to finish. Well done Astrosystems.
The mirror im using is and 16" F4.5 from my meade lightbridge. Its a cheap chinese mirror but does throw out a good image once properly collimated and cooled. The secondary is a Antares 1/15 wave. This mirror cleaned up the image ten fold compared to the lightbridge secondary. The colours in Jupiter are a lot more vibrant.
The focuser is a feather touch with a telrad up top on the UTA as well. I have a Thousand Oaks dew controller which is mounted on the UTA as well. Since the dew controller has a unmodulated outlet l can run the DG-2 dew heater off it. I wasnt quite happy with a 9v battery hanging off the spider. The Argo Navis is mounted using the stalk provided by Astrosysems. I have left room for a servocat one day..........
The build has been a learning curve for myself. Not only in woodworking but in understanding how a scope works. All aspects of electrical work and little parts that are customised all lead to a better understanding of ATM.
The end result is that l love my Telekit. It towers above the lightbridge that l had, which was customised to an extent. The fellows like Barry Bowman (sn1987a) show what can be actually done with a lightbridge. Those with a lightbridge give Barry a look up, you will be amazed what you can do.
Cheers Curt
Thanks Curt but I didn't do much with that Lightbridge except throw obscene amounts of money at it. Money that would have been much much better spent on a SDM or a telekit like yours or a secondhand premium dob off Astromart or a Gondwana telescope or a Dobstuff.
Anyone thinking of buying a Lightbridge 16 or worse - upgrading one. DON'T!, sell it!, take it to the tip!, burn it! ....save your money and buy a Suchting, Zambuto or Lockwood mirror and a kit like Curt. In the long run it's the cheapest, most efficient and satisfying investment in your viewing pleasure.
Thanks Curt but I didn't do much with that Lightbridge except throw obscene amounts of money at it. Money that would have been much much better spent on a SDM or a telekit like yours or a secondhand premium dob off Astromart or a Gondwana telescope or a Dobstuff.
Anyone thinking of buying a Lightbridge 16 or worse - upgrading one. DON'T!, sell it!, take it to the tip!, burn it! ....save your money and buy a Suchting, Zambuto or Lockwood mirror and a kit like Curt. In the long run it's the cheapest, most efficient and satisfying investment in your viewing pleasure.
Looks great Curt. I have bought parts from Astrosystems and have been impressed with their service too.
Yep. I can't fault them. I have read a few reports that they were starting to slip but l think that might have something to do with his business partner passing away in a motorbike accident.
Anyone thinking of buying a Lightbridge 16 or worse - upgrading one. DON'T!, sell it!, take it to the tip!, burn it! ....save your money and buy a Suchting, Zambuto or Lockwood mirror and a kit like Curt. In the long run it's the cheapest, most efficient and satisfying investment in your viewing pleasure.
We should have a lightbridge burning. I was thinking of turning the lower half of my lightbridge into a herb garden.
Thanks Gary.
She did hold up the build a little bit, but she was out in the shed with me the whole time watching me. Hopefully she will take up the sport when she gets a little older.
Thanks Curt but I didn't do much with that Lightbridge except throw obscene amounts of money at it. Money that would have been much much better spent on a SDM or a telekit like yours or a secondhand premium dob off Astromart or a Gondwana telescope or a Dobstuff.
Anyone thinking of buying a Lightbridge 16 or worse - upgrading one. DON'T!, sell it!, take it to the tip!, burn it! ....save your money and buy a Suchting, Zambuto or Lockwood mirror and a kit like Curt. In the long run it's the cheapest, most efficient and satisfying investment in your viewing pleasure.
Can anyone explain what is wrong with the lightbridge.
These "high end EYE- FI Astronomers" are knocking the lightbridge.
I own one and have no problem with them.
I can understand where Barry is coming from with his dramatic words (), but I wouldn't be so harsh.
Scopes that are mass produced do serve a purpose. They offer people with a moderate interest in astro, people with a keen interest in astro but limited funds, and people with a keen interest but not wanting to spend too much, all the opportunity to access large apertures. But remember, these scopes are built to a price, always.
The 'Dobsonian' is not just a style, but also an entire design philosophy. Appropriate material selection, large bearing diameters in both axis, balanced instruments, and a smooth and easy action. And to achieve this ends up costing more to produce. Mass production scopes don't follow this and they cut corners in manufacturing to reduce cost.
Kim, if you are happy with your scope, that is fine. But when you do get the chance to handle a 'true' dob, you will come to understand the strong bias expressed by Barry. Scopes like those made by Telekit, Obsession, and yes my own Gondwana line, do follow the ideas laid down by John Dobson. That is why they are more expensive, and why their action is so much nicer and consistent action. In the end, you get what you pay for.
Note, I have not mentioned mirror quality. One thing that mass production techniques have undergone is refine their production quality. Today you will get fine optics from specific mass production companies. But really high end optics are still the domain of a handful of smaller firms, because such optics are very expensive to produce (sometimes twice the price of the custom dob they will be put into). Yet the quality of the mass produced mirrors can still merit being placed into custom dobs.
I can understand where Barry is coming from with his dramatic words (), but I wouldn't be so harsh.
Scopes that are mass produced do serve a purpose. They offer people with a moderate interest in astro, people with a keen interest in astro but limited funds, and people with a keen interest but not wanting to spend too much, all the opportunity to access large apertures. But remember, these scopes are built to a price, always.
The 'Dobsonian' is not just a style, but also an entire design philosophy. Appropriate material selection, large bearing diameters in both axis, balanced instruments, and a smooth and easy action. And to achieve this ends up costing more to produce. Mass production scopes don't follow this and they cut corners in manufacturing to reduce cost.
Kim, if you are happy with your scope, that is fine. But when you do get the chance to handle a 'true' dob, you will come to understand the strong bias expressed by Barry. Scopes like those made by Telekit, Obsession, and yes my own Gondwana line, do follow the ideas laid down by John Dobson. That is why they are more expensive, and why their action is so much nicer and consistent action. In the end, you get what you pay for.
Note, I have not mentioned mirror quality. One thing that mass production techniques have undergone is refine their production quality. Today you will get fine optics from specific mass production companies. But really high end optics are still the domain of a handful of smaller firms, because such optics are very expensive to produce (sometimes twice the price of the custom dob they will be put into). Yet the quality of the mass produced mirrors can still merit being placed into custom dobs.
thanks for explanation alex
i am a bit more clearer.
mass production scopes do make it more affordable to get people in astronomy.
astronomy is such a niche subject there's not that many people interested in it .
look at the number of astronomy shops closed down.
On the subject on the ultimate `value' of the mass produced optics :
It costs money to anneal optical grade glass to be strain free as it takes a lot of energy to keep kilns running at high temperatures over many days . This is a particular area where the budget mass produced dobs companies save money.
Those optics are not made with a view to holding a precision figure over a long time , just as the particle board mountings are not meant to last 20 years - they are simply made to a price. A well known US optician won't refigure one of these mirrors until he has re-annealled the glass.
It is not possible to look at the strain / anneal of these blanks when they have coatings on but I have had the chance look at some with coatings off and have never seen one that you could call fine annealed and some are positively horrible yet have given the owners a reasonable view so far . Optics are no different from any other area - there are generally no free lunches.
), but I wouldn't be so harsh.
